Resourcefulness

Michèle Pierre-Louis, former prime minister of Haiti, and executive director of the Knowledge and Freedom Foundation, examined the concept of “resourcefulness.” She focused on Haiti's heritage preservation, which is paralyzed in the face of the country's increasingly severe challenges: galloping demography, degraded environment, and economic and political quagmires. Paradoxically, this may be the moment when specific experiences in Haiti involving underprivileged populations will give rise to a new understanding of their own environment, of their own capacity to affect their history in the making, and consequently to see themselves as agents in the preservation of their heritage. A sense of resourcefulness can constitute the basis for a thought-provoking dialogue of universal scope about the value of preservation.